Our Past Projects
TELL-TO-ACT’s central ambition is through the use of stories and storytelling, it creates action and common understanding or narratives towards common understanding, that are grounded in a value-based approach. The concept consists of a toolbox of storytelling and dialogue methods that can be used to: 1. Create clarity and motivation. 2. Develop strategies together with those involved. 3. Use for planning, facilitation, and evaluation of projects. 4. Clarify buzzwords and shared values. 5. And finally in the general communication internally and externally.
The full title of this project is – “Maintaining Civil Society Space in Uganda through capacity building, gaps reduction and government – CSOs constructive dialogue”. It has background/it is a reaction to the sustapensions of CSO/NGOs that took place in Uganda in August 2021 – where 54 of these entities fell victim. The project goes out to provide an alternative process for restoring the operational space of the affected CSOs, as well as others that could be in danger over the months and years to come. We want to activate a CSOs – Government interaction platform where sustained dialogue takes place, to bring the two estranged sides closer to each other.
Our project has its overarching goal to empower marginalized teen girls in Morocco to mobilize and advocate for change at the national level for teen girls’ rights on issues such as sexual harassment, forced dropping out of school, and forced early marriage. This project is grounded by two specific objectives: (1). To build capacity for marginalized teen girls in Morocco to effectively advocate for their rights by activating Girl Leaders through empowerment workshops and skills training in lobbying and advocacy, leading to the development of a Teen Girl Bill of Rights. Includes facilitating structures for teen girls to access role models and allies with key policy stakeholders. And (2). To facilitate a strong grassroots girls’ rights movement which mobilizes Girl Leaders to demand change through garnering support from other teen girls, local and regional communities as well as at the national level to uphold and to reform girls’ rights. The project will last 12 months.
Together with Early Care International, Civil Connections have received funding from CISU for the project Mapping Early Childhood Development Programmes in Ethiopia (MECDP)!
Early Care International focuses on the mapping of Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes in Ethiopia, which are based on the worldwide agenda Early Childhood Development. As an organization, they strive to coordinate early childhood development programmes, build the capacity of stakeholders and strengthen partnerships in low and middle-income countries.
Along with InspiNest, we are excited to announce this project which will empower more than 2000 young girls to innovate in their communities. This project aims to establish 5 entrepreneurship hubs in 12 months at different junior and senior schools in the Bono Region. Trained change-makers will aim to empower young women sustainably and spearhead a regional advocacy group to work towards a more supportive and entrepreneurial culture.
In late October 2021, we kicked off Facilitating Youth Policy Development, a civil society project run in Georgia by the Academy of Peace and Development APD, coordinated by Civil Connections in Denmark and funded by CISU—the civil society branch of DANIDA. The project has three central objectives:
1.To increase the competences (mobilize & capacitate) of youths, civil society organisations and civil servants to address youth issues
2. To foster the establishment of sustainable forms of cooperation among youths, local youth organisations and local authorities
3. Based on the National Youth Policy Document and the lessons learned, to design a regional-based/ youth policy guide and an action plan for bringing this to use, and advocate for its approval and uptake
Coming to the Nordics tells the real stories of migrants who have journeyed to and made lives in Nordic countries. At a time when migration is such a central and heated debate, let’s take the time to hear what life as a migrant is really like, what is meant by integration and whether it is a fair concept. We aim to produce a podcast series of 30 stories from non-western migrants, reflecting on:
- Their journey: the reasons for and process of coming to the Nordics
- Life here: challenges, successes, contradictions, navigation of understandin
- Any advice they would have for new comers to ease their faster settling in
We are piloting a grassroots-based structure for the mobilizing, capacitating, and mentoring of youth leaders in local governments in Uganda. Outputs include:
- Youth and CSOs leaders that are be better fitted to carry out their roles in local governance representation and policy-making.
- More regular interfaces between youth leaders and the youths they represent in form of quarterly round tables and meetings, as a way of systematizing and increasing accountability to their constituencies, and platforms for policy inputs.
- Emergence of strong grassroots-based policy inputs through initiating a Community Journalists Volunteers (CJV) program.
We want to contribute to new approaches maintaining the education of young people in low-resourced communities faced with high-cost online learning. We will do this by: Implementing and utilizing a toll-free distributed telephone line to connect participating primary schools in Yumbe town council with Community Extension Teachers (CETs) to provide home school education during and after Covid 19; Compiling and distributing copies of a “Pass Primary Leaving Exams questions” pamphlet to the participating schools to guide students, CETs, and parents at home with a continued familiarity with the upcoming structure of the exams and reading practice. Mobilizing and guiding other stakeholders— especially parents—on their roles and responsibilities to enable continued learning within homes both during and after Covid-19 as a way of supporting their children towards succeeding at these exams, and their general education.
Protecting Our Planet
Protecting our Planet is an Erasmus + Youth Exchange in Turkey, where 60 young people from Denmark, Turkey, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic and Italy came together in Istanbul to learn about pressing ecological challenges to their local communities, and discuss solutions to these. This was part of the ambition to prepare young Europeans to become aware and take charge of protecting their planet. The 5 days were a mix of sharing experiences, intercultural exchanges, motivational talks, innovating games and lots of nature excursions.
Climate Ambassadors
In late November 2021, 60 young people from Turkey, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia and Macedonia came together on a youth exchange to learn about ecological challenges.
Thanks to Erasmus+’s support over the years, Civil Connections makes youth challenges happen as a part of our drive to create robust communities through networks, knowledge development and skills/experience sharing.
According to data provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2016 around 36.7 million people were living with a contagious illness where most of the subjects of this illness were between the ages of 25 and 29. Due to a lack of awareness among European youth, they are uninterested about undergoing the tests necessary to combat contagious diseases. This situation puts both them personally and their society’s collective health in danger. This project aims to increase consciousness about the possible outcomes of this neglect, and to widen the youth’s understanding of infectious diseases. Throughout the project, participants will be informed on the topic of protection from illnesses and the procedures that they need to take in case of becoming infected.